Machine for bending leather edgewise.



.l. N. WHMER; MACHINE FOR moms LEATHER EDGEWISE.

APPLICATION HLED OCL'ZS, 19MB.

- Patented Feb. 5,1918.

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Jl'UHN N. WEIMER, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

MACHINE non :Bnn'nnm LEATHER nnenwrsn.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb. 5, 191..

Application filed October 23, 1916. Serial No. 127,086.

. two feed rollers for feeding the leather strip forward, and guides on the intake and discharge sides of said rollers for acting against the edge of the leather strip, the guide on the discharge side being displaced toward the leather strip from the plane perpendicular to the roller axes and containing the other guide; andI preferably provide members cooperating with the faces of the leather strip to prevent it from buckling as it is being bent edgewise. Preferably, I employ my invention in connection with a standard leather-splitting machine, which has the rollers and the guide on the intake side of the rollers, and a knife for splitting the leather to obtain the desired thickness, as thereby I am able to obtain both the split ting and the bending in one operation.

The accompanying drawing illustrates my invention. Figure 1 is a plan view of a leather-splitting machine equipped with my device for producing edgewise bending of the leather, showing the machine somewhat diagrammatically; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of such machine, partly in section; Fig. 3 is a partial plan view showing the adjustability of the bending guide; Fig. 4 is a perspective View of the bending guide; Fig. 5 i a plan view, on a smaller scale, of a leather strip after it has been bent edgewise; and Fig. 6 is a sectional view of such a bent strip after it has been formed into the truncated cone shape required for the facing of a clutch cone.

The two feed rollers 10 and 11 are driven in any suitable manner in the direction of the arrows to feed in the direction of the arrow over the feed table 12 and discharge table 13 the leather strip 14 to be split and bent edgewise. At the receiving end of the discharge table 13 and projecting well into the space between the rollers 10 and 11 is the splitting knife 15, which splits the leather strip 1e into the upper part 16 to be bent and the lower. part 17 which is discharged downward for possible other use.

The discharge table 13 usually slants upward from the splitting knife 15 for a distance, and then extends horizontally, as clear from Fig. 2. An intake guide 18 bears against one edge of the leather strip 14l-the edge which is to be conveXon the intake side of the rollers 10 and 11. A bending guide 20 bears against the same edge of the upper portion 16 of the strip 14 on the discharge side of the rollers 10 and 11, but at a point which is displaced toward the leather strip from that plane perpendicular to the axes of the rollers 10 and 11 in which the intake guide 18 lies. The bending guide 20 is preferably adjustable about a pivot 21, so as to vary the amount of bending given the leather strip 16. When my invention is applied to existing splitting machines, this pivot21 is preferably provided between the bending guide 20 and an overlying plate 22, which bears against any suitable attaching points on the splitting machine, as against lugs 23 on the discharge table 13, and is clamped in such position by a bolt 24 which extends through such plate 22 and the discharge table 13 and also through an arc'shaped slot 25 in the bending guide 20 so that it serves not only to clamp the parts in place but to lock the bending guide in the desired angular position. The upper portion 16 of the leather strip to be bent edgewise travels between the overlying plate 22 and the table 13, at the point where it is acted on by the bending guide 20, and is thereby prevented from bucklingduring the edgewise bending operation.

In operation, the leather strip 14 is fed in the direction of the arrow between the rollers 10 and 11, with one edge of the strip bearing against the intake guide 18. As the strip 11 passes between the rollers 10 and 11, it strikes the splitting knife 15, and is split into the upper and lower strips 16 and 17. The upper section 16 passes on to the table 13, and'strikes the bending guide 20, which forces it out of the line in which it is being fed between the rollers 10 and 11 to bend it edgewise in the direction shown, the overlying plate 22 and the underlying table 13 cooperating to prevent the strip 16 from buckling as it is being bent. The operation of the rollers 10 and 11 forces the leather strip '14 against the knife 15, and also exerts a force -on the leather strip tending to force that partof it which is between the guides 18 and 20 out of the straight linejoining suchguides,

thus creating opposing forces, by the guides l8 and 20 .in one direction and the rollers 10 and 11' at an intermediate point in the other direction, tending to producethe edgewisebending of the strip as, it is fed between 'the rollers. Different degrees of bending may b'e'obtained by adjusting the discharge guide 20 about its pivot 21. The finished -strip,.shown in Fig. 4C, is permanently bent edgewise, as indicated, so that it can be rolled "into the form of a truncated cone,

as shown in Fig. 5, to form a facing for a-clutch cone. o

If desired, especially where the table 13 firstslants upward from the discharge side of the rollers and then-extendshorizontally, -sothat the space between the table 13 and the overlying'plate 22 is wedge-shaped, the

bending guide '20 may be provided with a laterally'projecting wedge-shaped tongue 26 which extends under the bent leather strip and confines it withina parallel-sided space provided by such tongue and the overlying plate 22'. This assists in preventing buckling .of the leather strip, and is especially desirable when the more flexible leather is being operated upon.

I claim as my invention:

' 1. A combined splitting and edgewise bending machine for leather, comprising a pair of feed rollers having parallel axes for feeding the leather strip between them, a

fsplitting knife for splitting the leather as pair'of feed rollers having parallel axes for feedingthe leather strip between them, a splitting knife for splitting theleather as it is discharged from said rollers, an intake Copies of this patent may be obtained for guide bearing against the edge ofthe leather strip on the intake side of the rollers, a bending guidebearing against the same edge of one of the parts of said leather strip on the discharge side-of the rollers after the splitting has occurred, said bending guide being displaced toward the leather strip from that plane perpendicular to the axes of the rollers which contains the intake guide, and means for permitting the varying of the relative positions of said two guides axially of the rollers.

3. A combined splitting and edgewise bending machine for leather, comprising a pair of vfeed rollers having parallel axes forfeeding the leather strip between them, a splitting knife for splitting'the leather as it is discharged from said rollers, an intake guide bearing against the edge of the leather strip on the intakeside of the rollers, and

a bendingguide bearing against the same 'edge'of one of the parts of saidleather strip on the dischargeside of the rollers after "the splitting has occurred, said bending guide being displaced toward the leather strip from that plane perpendicular to the axes of the rollers which contains the intake guide, said bending guide being pivotally mounted so thatit can be adjusted to different positions relative to the aforesaid plane.

4. A combined splitting and edgewise bending machine for leather, comprising a pair of feed rollers having parallel axes for feeding the leather strip between them, a splitting knife for splitting the leather as it is discharged from said rollers, an intake guide bearing against the edge of the leather strip on the intake side of the rollers, a bending guide bearing against the same edge of one of the parts of said leather strip on the discharge side of the rollers after splitting has occurred, said bending guide being displaced toward the leather strip from .that plane perpendicular to the axes of the rollers which contains the intake guide, and members cooperating with the two faces of the leather strip at the bending guide to prevent buckling of the leather as it is operated on by said bending guide.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 21st day of October, A. D. one thousand nine hundred and sixteen.

JOHN N. WEIMER.

five cents each. by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

